#in a sense this is a reverse starter call?

[powderpinkprincess]

Issues [Lando Norris x model!reader] 16+

description: When you and Lando go out clubbing together, it never ends well. You're jealous and he's frustrated. warnings: alcohol, some swearing, arguing, mentions of family abandonment

A/N: To tell you the truth, as a psych student I’m a sucker for dysfunctional relationships where Y/N gives his chosen one a little trouble (or reversed). It may be just me, but I couldn’t find many x readers like that, so I decided to test the waters and post my crazy stuff. (I have much more wicked things in my folder but I'll hold them back for now lol) Just to give a bit of a context though, I will write a few sentences of Y/N’s backstory for this one, so her actions make a little sense.

Your backstory: Your Dad is a rally driver and your Mom is a model. As their only child, they have always wanted you to follow their routes, so ever since your childhood you’ve been modelling. However, when you were 8, your parents got separated and your Mom left you to live with your Dad pretty much from one day to another. You met Lando through your Dad when you were 18. Back then you were setting unreasonably high bars for yourself in modelling, hoping to get back your Mom. After some time of dating, Lando asked you to leave that life behind and move to Monaco with him, hoping that you would finally start to heal in a new environment. (He loves you but he’s not a magician to make all your issues disappear.)

Through the past 3 years spent together, you and Lando learned that it was never a good idea to go out clubbing together. For both of your sakes, it was better when you were sticking to your own group of friends while partying. However, it has been a while since Lando’s best friend, Max Fewtrell visited Monaco with his girlfriend, so you couldn’t just stay at home while they dived into the nightlife. Lando didn’t want to leave you out, so he offered that you invited your best friend, Sasha, too.

Sasha understood you like no one else. You met her here in Monaco, and the two of you got very close over a relatively short time. She was also a model who moved to Monte Carlo from abroad, but her parents were really nice, so she ended up well. Lando liked her. She helped you grow a lot.

Lando reserved a table in the VIP lounge of a club, so you already had a place to go to. He was sitting next to you, his hand resting on your leg. The boys ordered two bottles of vodka for starters.

 “Alright, alright, let's drink," Max grinned, holding up his glass. You sipped on yours lightly, feeling your head already getting dizzy. It made your mind go quiet, a rare sensation for you. Lando was a little more active, talking loudly as Max told his stories from back in the UK. Sasha was on her phone, uploading photos of the four of you to her Instagram story.

 “When does your boyfriend arrive?” you yelled through the music to your best friend.

 “I think he said in like an hour or something,” she shrugged, finishing the vodka in her glass. “He better hurry, he’s missing out!”

 “The table is under Lando’s name,” you reminded her. “Tell him to call if he's close by so he can go and get him, otherwise the bouncers won't believe he's with us.”

 “Sure, I will,” Sasha grinned as she stood up. “I need to go to the ladies room. Wanna come with me?”

Sasha held out her hand to you, and you took it. Given that Lando reserved a table at the VIP section on the balcony, there weren't many people up there. The main dancefloor downstairs was shared with the non-VIP guests, but there was a smaller one up where you were seated.

When you appeared again, you were talking to another girl with Sasha by your side. As you sat back, he wrapped his arms around you, leaning over to talk to you through the music. “You alright?”

You just smirked and shrugged. Lando glanced at Sasha, who had a mischievous look glimmering in her eyes. He sighed and shook his head, downing the rest of his vodka. “Another round?” he asked.

One drink led to another and soon you were dancing. At first on the VIP floor, but then you decided to walk into the non-VIP crowd downstairs. An hour later Sasha’s boyfriend arrived, so Lando went to get him. The rest of you decided to get some fresh air by the entrance. On his way out, Lando met a fan, so he talked to her a little before making it to the front gate. Things got a little weird when she asked him to sign the tiny crop top she was wearing at the moment, but he’s gotten worse requests before. He quickly signed it, posed for a picture and then left.

When Lando returned, he couldn't help but notice how pissed you looked. He gently grabbed you by the hand and pulled you to the side, away from the hustle and bustle in the club.

 “What's wrong?” Lando asked, looking at you with slight concern.

 “You,” you answered without thinking.

Lando looked taken aback, raising one eyebrow. “Me? Why?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

 “You just keep forgetting you have a fucking girlfriend,” you glared.

Lando stared at you for a second silently, trying to process what you meant. He thought everything was okay, he hadn't done anything wrong... Had he?

 “I haven't forgotten anything,” he said, raising his hands in confusion. “What are you on about?”

Lando had a feeling where this conversation was going, and he didn't like it. You were a jealous type in general, but on a daily basis, Lando could handle that pretty well. However, drunk Y/N was something else, and paired with drunk Lando it was a recipe for disaster.

You just stared at him angrily. Lando was getting frustrated. He hated arguing sober and he hated arguing even more so drunk.

 “Will you stop being so vague and just spit it out?” he said, running his hand through his curls. “You're jealous, I get it, but what exactly have I done that has upset you?” Lando was genuinely confused. He thought tonight was going relatively well.

 “You know exactly what I'm talking about!” you crossed your arms as well. You couldn’t believe he didn’t. That girl was practically showing her boobs into his face!

Lando was getting angry now. He wanted to just be able to enjoy a simple night out with his friends, but you had to turn it into a fight. Not again, he didn't have the energy for this.

 “Clearly I don't know, seeing how I'm asking you,” he looked at you, shaking his head. “I haven't even looked at another girl all night long!”

 “Oh, great, that's even better. So, you don't even know what my problem is,” you mumbled to yourself, but he heard it.

 “No, Y/N. I don't.” Lando was getting tired of this now. "Please enlighten me," he leaned back on the wall behind him, rubbing his forehead.

 “No,” you turned away. “I won't make a fool of myself.”

Lando rolled his eyes. He was beginning to wonder why he even tolerated this. He loved you deeply and you were a great girlfriend most of the time, but the jealous fights were draining him.

 “Fine. I'm going back inside. See ya,” Lando shrugged and started walking back to the VIP section, where some of the others headed back already. Sasha was waiting for you a few steps away, so you would be fine with her.

Most of the time it was better to let you cool off a little before talking, but not when you were drunk. Him walking away was the cherry on top for you. You were so hurt and so triggered that you started crying. Sasha was now at your side, holding you close.

Lando found Max, who was sitting inside. He peeked out the window curiously when he saw that Lando returned alone and fuming.

 “What's wrong with Y/N? Why is she crying?” Max frowned.

Lando rubbed his face and shook his head. “We were just talking and out of nowhere, she starts yelling at me. Apparently I'm neglecting her or something, I have no idea. She won't talk to me, so I came back here. You know how she gets when she's drunk.”

Max leaned a little closer. As he was the only person that Lando told pretty much everything to. He has heard a lot about this type of issue as well, and he was on Lando’s side. He liked you, but it always pissed him off how you could hurt his best friend by your insecure behaviour sometimes.

 “Mate, why on earth are you tolerating this from her?” he asked, frowning.

Lando sighed. “She's my girlfriend. I love her. I know she loves me, too, she can just be a bit immature and a little controlling.” He took another sip of his vodka. “I know I shouldn't even be entertaining this behaviour but what the hell am I supposed to do?”

 “I don't know, man,” Max shook his head. “My girlfriend can be jealous too, but she never throws a fit.”

 “Yeah, cause she is reasonable. I'm a little jealous sometimes, too, I just don't show it. She really doesn't understand that sometimes I'm just working too hard, not neglecting her on purpose. She's very dependent on me,” Lando glanced back to the window, sighing deeply. “I’m not sure that is her problem right now though. I don’t know. I’ve tried to ask.”

Max just hummed.

Lando downed the last of his vodka. “I'll go back and talk to her. Wish me luck.” He stood up and headed for the exit, bracing himself for another fight.

As Lando approached the outside area, he saw you sitting on the ground, tears streaming down your face. You looked up at Lando as he sat down beside you. You didn’t expect him to come back. Whenever things got like this, you were sure he was done with you.

 “Hey, baby.” He gently brushed the hair out of your face and took your hand. It was an automatic response to try and comfort you.

 “What?” you scoffed in tears.

Sasha stepped further away to give you some space.

 “Look, come here,” Lando wrapped an arm around you and gave you a soft hug, pressing a light kiss to your temple. “I hate seeing you like this. Talk to me, please? What have I done?”

 “Do you even care? You walked away,” you cried.

Lando was getting frustrated again. He hated seeing you upset, but you weren't giving him anything to work with. “What was I supposed to do? If someone starts yelling at you and refuses to explain why, what am I supposed to do? You need to give me something here, darling,” Lando said. “I can't read your mind.”

 “I'm not asking you to read my mind! It should be obvious by now, you shouldn't need mindreading,” you retorted. Him still talking to fans who stepped over a certain boundary was nothing new in your relationship.

 “Well, it isn't obvious,” Lando raised his voice a little. “What is it? Do you think I'm paying more attention to my career than to you? Am I spending too much time with other girls? Am I not giving you enough affection?” He was just guessing and hoping that he would get it right. He couldn't stand this any longer.

 “Those are only my problems in general,” you pouted.

Lando was at a loss. He shook his head and sighed. “Alright, I give up. You won’t tell me, but you won't stop crying? What do you want me to do to help? I can't fix your problems if you don't tell me what the problem is.”

 “I want you to apologize!” you wiped your cheeks.

 “Apologize?” Lando sighed. He took a few moments to gather his thoughts before looking deeply into your eyes. “All right, I apologize. I'm sorry. Is that what you wanted me to say? Can you stop crying now?”

 “No because you weren't serious. You still don't know what you've done,” you shook your head.

You were really testing his patience now. Lando was tired, you were both drunk, and he just wanted to enjoy the rest of the night, but here you were, fighting again. “What do you want from me, Y/N? Seriously. I don't know what's wrong, I've tried asking, but you won't tell me,” he said, staring at you with frustrated eyes.

 “Why did you keep talking to that girl?!” you finally blurted out.

Lando frowned. Which girl? He didn’t remember talking to any girls besides Sasha and Max’s girlfriend. Oh, and that fan he met while getting Sasha’s boyfriend. Lando sighed deeply, his heart sinking. Why couldn't he just have one night out in peace? He took a deep breath to calm himself down before responding to your accusation. “Y/N, I'm a Formula One driver, I talk to a lot of people,” he tried eventually. “Are you talking about the one that came up to me? Cause talking to fans is literally part of my job. It’s in my contract.”

 “But you’re off season!” you retorted.

 “Does it matter? If a fan wants to talk to me, I can't just tell them to piss off. Or do you want me to be rude?” he asked. He was slowly getting worked up again. It wasn’t just that arguing about this was ridiculous, but also that your heavy feelings always touched him somehow. Even when he didn’t want to be affected.

 “I don’t want you to be rude. I want you to spend your time with us, with me,” you sniffled. “Fans get so much of your attention during the season. Just send them away, you’re on a holiday.”

 “That would be rude,” he answered immediately. “Besides, what's the big deal? I was just talking, I was not hitting on her. We shared like two sentences. Why do you want to fight with me so bad?”

 “I’m not trying to fight you, but you were talking to a girl who was obviously flirting with you! You just don’t see it anymore because everyone loves you so much,” you cried. You were terrified of losing him because he found someone better. There were plenty of girls trying their ways all the time, just like this one.

Lando shook his head, clearly getting more impatient and frustrated with the conversation. “Okay, let's say she was flirting with me. So what? This is ridiculous, Y/N. You have no trust in me. You think that any girl I talk to is automatically a threat to our relationship? You know what that screams? Insecurity. I love you, but I can't keep having this conversation every time we go out. You're not being fair to me.”

 “I'm not being fair?!” you hiccupped.

Lando clenched his jaw, trying not to lose his temper. “Yes, you're not being fair. How would you feel if I accused you of cheating every time you spoke to another man? That would be unfair, wouldn't it? It's the same for me. Why is it ok then that you assume I'm trying to get with every woman I look at?”

 “I didn't say that!” your eyes widened. His anger was scaring you now.

 “You don't have to. I can read you like a book. How about I go over every guy you've ever talked to and accuse you of flirting with them, does that sound fair?”

His defensiveness made you also feel like you had to defend yourself. “No, I just mean that you told me the other day that people annoy you because they won't leave you alone even in your time off, yet you are talking to them as if they were your favourites!”

 “Y/N, I can't ignore them all the time! They pay their hard-earned money to buy a ticket to a race to cheer for me. I can't just brush them aside and look like an arrogant dickhead,” Lando sighed. “Baby, this is exhausting. Why do you question my loyalty to you every time I'm around another woman? I’ve never given you a reason, and it makes me feel like you don't trust me at all. Trust is the foundation of any relationship, without it, we have nothing.”

Your heart sank. He just said that you have no trust in him. Did he mean that…?

  “We have nothing?” you echoed quietly.

Lando felt his heart twist with guilt. He knew your abandonment issues were always there, lingering beneath the surface, and he cursed himself for triggering them in this situation. “No, that's not what I meant. You're twisting my words. We have something special, and I don't want to lose you. But I can't be in a relationship where I feel like I'm constantly being accused of doing something wrong when I'm not. It's not fair to me, Y/N.”

 “So you want to leave?” you sobbed out. What did he mean he couldn’t be in a relationship like yours?

Lando's heart sank as he looked at your distraught face. The last thing he wanted was for you to feel abandoned, especially since the history you had with your Mom leaving. He knew how deeply it affected you still to this day. He knew how much it hurt you.

He took a deep breath and spoke softly. “No, Y/N. I don't want to leave. I want us to fix this. I want you to trust me, to see that I love you and I am not going to cheat on you. But we need to find a way to communicate better, to hear each other out.”

You were just crying and crying. Your buttons were obviously pushed, no matter how Lando tried to avoid it. You were so easily hurt when you were drunk.

Lando was feeling completely frustrated and helpless. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. “Are you going to let me hold you and comfort you at least, or are you going to push me away?” he asked softly, his voice a mix of exhaustion and worry.

You glared at him. “You are the one saying that you can’t be in a relationship like this, yet you keep accusing me that I wanna push you away!”

 “Because you are!” Lando exclaimed, his frustration beginning to boil over. “You're being so passive-aggressive! You won't tell me what's wrong, but you cry and push me away when I try to comfort you. What am I supposed to do, Y/N?”

 “I don't know!” you snapped back. “I'm sorry that it's so hard to love me, okay? But I never forced you to date me! I know it is hard to deal with me, I know that I have so many problems, you don’t have to keep rubbing it in.”

Lando sighed. “Y/N, it's not hard to love you. It's hard when you don't communicate with me. You can't just expect me to read your mind and know what you want from me, I can't do that.” He was trying to convey his feelings as clearly and as gently as possible, but deep down, he felt a growing sense of helplessness. He didn't want this to turn into another explosive argument. “Can we please just talk about this without yelling? Please?”

 “I'm not yelling!” you yelled.

 “Yes, you are yelling,” he replied firmly, trying to maintain a calm demeanour. “I am trying here, Y/N. I am trying to talk to you, to understand what is going on with you. But you're shouting at me, and it's not helping. Can you tone it down, please?”

At first you wanted to yell back to defend yourself, but then his words finally sank in. You took a shuddering breath and nodded.

 “Thank you,” Lando allowed himself a small smile. “I love you, okay?”

You nodded silently.

 “Do you love me?” he asked.

You nodded again.

 “Great. Then we will work this out, yeah? Maybe not tonight,” he quickly glanced at his watch. “It’s past midnight anyway. We’ll go back inside, enjoy the rest of the time here, then we’ll take a cab and go home. Max and his girlfriend are planning to go on a date tomorrow, so we’ll have the house for ourselves to talk. It will be alright.”

You sniffled and wiped your face. Lando pulled you close, and you finally allowed him. Miscommunication was a common root of argument in your relationship, you knew it. Thinking back now that you weren’t in fear of him leaving you, you could’ve just told him what hurt you right away.

Lando held you for a minute before he took your hand and started leading you back inside. If one thing was for sure, it was that waterproof mascara was a godsent product in your rollercoaster of a life.

[sleepybabybees]

Incorrect quotes return ✨️

Why? Simply because I can't sleep.

Ghost: Bridge the generation gap by combining old and new slang into one!

Price: Tubular AF!

Gaz: Mood to the max!

Soap, annoyed: Groovy, I hate it.

Laswell, just as annoyed: If she breathes, she’s a square.

----

Ghost: There are seven chairs and ten kids. What do you do?

Price: Have everyone stand.

Gaz: Bring three more chairs!

Soap: The most important ones can sit down.

Laswell: Kill three.

---

Laswell: Anyone d-

Ghost: Depressed?

Gaz: Drained?

Soap: Dumb?

Price: Disliked?

Laswell: -done with their work... what is wrong with you people...

---

Ghost: What’s something you guys are better than Price at?

Gaz: Mario Kart.

Soap: Yeah, video games.

Laswell: Emotional vulnerability.

---

Ghost: I’m an idiot.

Price:

Gaz:

Soap:

Laswell:

Ghost:

Price: If you’re waiting for us to disagree, this is going to be a long day.

---

Oryn: You're 'the second worst thing to ever happen to those orphans', what does that mean?

Eskell: It means i was second worst thing to happen to those orphans.

Oryn: but what’s the first worst thing?

*Awkward pause*

Eskell: Oryn, they...they weren’t always orphans.

Oryn:

---

Oryn: Eskell...

Eskell: Oh no, 'Eskell' in b-flat.

Eskell: You're disappointed.

---

Oryn: Violence isn't the answer.

Eskell: You’re right.

Oryn: *sighs in relief*

Eskell: Violence is the question.

Oryn: What?

Eskell, bolting away: And the answer is yes.

Oryn, running after him: NO-

---

Oryn: *Screams*

Eskell: *Screams louder to establish dominance*

Graves: Should we do something?

Price: No, I want to see who wins.

---

Price: Why are Oryn and Eskell sitting with their backs to each other?

Graves: They had a fight.

Price: Then why are they holding hands?

Graves: They get sad when they fight.

---

Oryn: I think we're missing something.

Eskell: Teamwork?

Graves: Cohesion?

Price: A general sense of what we’re doing?

---

Farah: How did none of you hear what I just said?

Alex: I’ve been zoned out for the past two and a half hours.

Ghost: I got distracted about halfway through.

Soap: Ignoring you was a conscious decision.

---

Farah: Listen, I can explain...

Alex: You’re making $500,000 and you’re only gonna pay me $30,000?

Ghost: You’re getting 30 grand? I’m getting $1,000!

Soap: You guys are getting paid?

---

Farah: *Trying to fill out legal paperwork stuff* Were you guys born AMAB or AFAB?

Alex: Bold of you to assume I was born at all.

Ghost: I personally was created in a lab.

Soap: I just straight up spawned lol.

---

Farah: Go to Hell

Alex, tearing up: I wish I could

---

Farah: *holding a bottle* Is this whiskey or perfume?

Alex: *chugs entire bottle*

Alex: It’s perfume.

---

Nikolai: Must be hard not being able to laugh

Price: I do have a sense of humor you know

Nikolai: I’ve never heard you laugh before

Price: I’ve never heard you say anything funny

---

Nikolai: I'm a reverse necromancer.

Price: Isn't that just killing people?

Nikolai: Ah, technicality.

---

Nikolai: Okay. I get it. You've had a really hard time lately, you're stressed out, seven people died-

Price: Twelve, actually.

Nikolai: Not the point. Look, they're dead now and really whose fault is that?

Price: Yours!

Nikolai: That's right: no one's.

---

Nikolai: I made tea.

Price: I don’t want tea.

Nikolai: I did not make tea for you. This is my tea.

Price: Then why are you telling me?

Nikolai: It is a conversation starter.

Price: That’s a lousy conversation starter.

Nikolai: Oh, is it? We are conversing. Checkmate.

---

Gaz: Why are you on the floor?

Price: I'm depressed.

Price: Also I was stabbed, can you get Nikolai, please.

---

Nikolai: What if I press the brake and gas at the same time?

Price: The car takes a screenshot.

Gaz: For the last time, get the fuck out.

---

*Nikolai and Price sitting in jail together*

Price: So who should we call?

Nikolai: I’d call Gaz, but I feel safer in jail...so I'm going to call kate-

Price: good call-

---

Nikolai: Are you sure this is the right direction?

Price: Certainly, I'm as sure as I am honest!

Gaz: In that case, we're definitely lost.

---

Laswell: Just be yourself.

Price: 'Be myself'? Kate, I have one day to win Nikolai over. How long did it take before you guys started liking me?

Soap: Couple weeks.

Gaz: Six months.

Ghost: Jury’s still out.

Price: See, Kate?

Price: 'Be myself'. What kind of garbage advice is that?

---

Nikolai: We need to distract these guys

Price: Leave it to me

Price: Centaurs have six limbs and are therefore insects. Discuss.

Gaz, Soap, and Laswell: *Immediately begin arguing*

Ghost, watching in horror: Oh, this. I don’t like this. I don't like this at all.

---

'Can I copy the homework?'

Nikolai: I can help you with it!

Price: Yeah, sure.

Gaz: Bold of you to assume I did the homework.

Soap: lol nope.

Laswell: Wait, we had homework?!?!?!

Ghost: *Read 5:55pm*

---

Nikolai: Croissants: dropped

Price: Road: works ahead

Gaz: BBQ sauce: on my titties

Soap: Shavacado: fre

Laswell: Miss Keisha: fuckin dead

Ghost:

Ghost, grumpy: I didn’t understand a single word of that, and I hate every single one of you.

---

Alejandro: I prevented a murder today.

Rudy: Really? How’d you do that?

Alejandro: self control.

---

Alejandro: Is letting someone win at chess sapiosexual bottoming

Ghost: my dad would argue yes.

Soap: yes

Gaz: if you wanna see it that way, sure

Rudy: Does anyone in this godforsaken group ever think before they speak

---

Alejandro: I was thinking I'd do some magic-

Rudy: You? Magic? Alejandro, it says talent show.

---

Alejandro: Do you ever want to talk about your emotions, Rudy?

Rudy: … No.

Valeria: I do!

Alejandro: I know, Valeria.

Valeria: I’m El Sin Nombre!

Alejandro: I know, Valeria.

---

Alejandro: What's a word thats a mix between 'sad' and 'mad'?

Rudy: Disgruntled, miserable, desolated-

Valeria: Smad.

---

Store Worker: Would a Mr. Rudy please come to the front desk?

Rudy, arriving at the desk: Hello, is there a problem?

Store Worker: points to Alejandro and Valeria

Store Worker: I believe they belong to you?

Alejandro and Valeria, simultaneously: We got lost :(

Rudy: I didn’t even bring you guys here with me

[doubleddenden]

Finally, we're at the gen 9 rivals and friends. Honestly some of the best in the series- Some call Arven or Penny Rivals, but that's wrong. Still, I feel weird not including them in the list. They even repeat some old tropes in the franchise, but still manage to pull it off in an enjoyable way.

Anyway, let's get to it

Lets start with the actual main rival, Pokemon Goku, Nemona. Nemona continues the trend of friendly rival with a weaker starter- but she finally does something to make that fun: She's already a champion. She's already a champion, and she's crazy enough to try and groom a complete noob into becoming her ultimate rival. She purposely restarts from the bottom to match us, because she's so battle crazy that she's scared off everyone else. Thus, when we beat her, the joy is JUSTIFIED, because we're another step closer to her ideal rival. She is pretty funny and crazy, a little autistic probably, but I love how she REFUSES to take no for an answer when she asks us to be rivals for life after we, too, become champions. The rush of battling us as two champion tier trainers overwhelms her with joy- because she finally, FINALLY has found someone that can handle her freak and won't run away when she challenges us. Literally, Goku training Uub.

As a trainer, her teams are very packed with hard hitters- and even though she picks the weaker starter, she does have the added benefit of the starters this go around having a reverse type triangle of strengths and resistances. Sure, that goes flying out the window when she terastilizes a Quaquaval against your Meowscarada, but at the same time, if she outspeeds? You're still in trouble. And her final Blueberry rematch team is something INCREDIBLE as well, stacking up with other starters like Infernape or Greninja to help make her already decent team even better. Literally a cut above most of the rivals since Barry, imo, maybe only being outdone by N in terms of struggle at the current level. As a character and rival, 9/10, she's fun, if not as deep as Arven.

As a design... Eh. Kinda middling. She does wear the same uniform as us with a cool little arm thing, so she's not getting *too* much special treatment compared to us, and I think we're all in agreement that the Scarlet version is more fitting for her. I'm not really a fan of the green in her hair or the forehead, and I think maybe it'd be pulled off better with a gold highlight instead on some bangs. I will say, the render looks fine, but she actually looks a bit better in game imo. 7/10 on design, there's more interesting looking rivals imo.

Now that our rival is done, lets take a look at our buddy (since he calls us "Little Buddy," Arven. And of course, he's gotta have Mabosstiff, it feels wrong to separate them. Arven starts off pretty rough, and I thought for a second *he* might be our asshole rival- but then he sends out a Skwovet he just caught. Some time passes, and we're literally traveling the countryside hunting down Titan pokemon, battling them side by side, all to find Herba Mystica- an herb that wasn't even confirmed to exist- just to save his best friend, Mabosstiff. It turns out, Arven is actually a pretty cool guy, even if he's rough around the edges to strangers. His backstory of being practically abandoned by his parents to study in Area Zero- or in the case of his other parent, LEAVE Area Zero without him- is a rather sad and complicated affair that actually intertwines with the legendary we are given, who he partially blames for his parents leaving him. Couple that with his "parent" suddenly contacting us to come to Area Zero to help stop the Time Machine? And then to find out that his real parent died? Bro has gone through a LOT on his own, and him being so good with cooking makes so much sense when you realize it's because nobody else would do it for him. So of COURSE it makes sense he's desperate to save his dog, that dog is the only family he has that hasn't abandoned him! And guess what? Arven is such a bro that he doesn't abandon US either! He knows he's not the hottest shit, but he's still fighting those titantic bastards right next to us, and STILL dives into Area Zero with us to keep us safe AND give his shit mom or dad a piece of his mind.

Now sure, towards the end, I think it's pretty bullshit that he suddenly decides his mom and dad are super interesting and he should learn more about the people who ABANDONED AND NEGLECTED HIM, but he's been through a lot. I do find it ridiculously charming, too, that he's protective enough of us from even Carmine and Kieran, claiming us as his best friend. He even joins the tournament and challenges us because he truly loves battling with us!

Arven is without a DOUBT the heart and soul of Scarlet and Violet's story, next only to our motorcycle-er, dragon. The game probably would not be nearly as tolerable without him in it, and I gotta say, I'm glad a character like him exists. I hope we get to meet him again in future games, healthy and happy. As a character, he is basically 9.5/10.

As a trainer, I think he's definitely not as strong as Nemona, and he's not worried about that kind of thing either. His team is literally the friends he made along the way to saving Mabosstiff, and for the most part are food themed. It's very fitting and another really charming detail about the kind of person he is. I don't sweat fighting him- at least, not until that Garganacl shows up- but I do have fun, and that's how you make a buddy trainer imo. 9/10 for the intention and detail.

As a design, his hair is a mess, being sort of a fusion of Sada and Turo, but again he does look better in game imo. He's both handsome and pretty otherwise, I can see the hype. He's definitely got that strong explorer look, and even though that backpack of his must be HEAVY AF carrying all of those picnic materials, it does fit him and fit the vibe of a desperate treasure hunter. The outfit goes together really well, with my favorite iteration being the violet colors- I want a uniform like this, but alas, ours is separate to spring and autumn. Appearance wise, he definitely reads as someone that probably should have graduated high school by now, being held back for bad grades or just not turning in assignments- he's got better things to do, tbh. On a design perspective, he's 9/10 as well. Just a fantastic character all around. The literal bestest best friend we've ever had.

Penny is...Okay. I think her twist of being the head of Team Star carries her farther than it should, but her plot to dismantle Team Star with you so that they'll start going to classes again is decent enough, and the reveal certainly is entertaining, plus the Eevee love is super relatable- would've been GREAT if we got a new Eeveelution to warrant it, but I digress.

I feel that a lot of her personality doesn't really start to form until AFTER the Team Star story... and tbh, I kind of see why she was bullied. She's a bitch. A funny bitch sometimes, certainly a smart one, but she is still pretty snooty with people for practically no reason, even just trying to have a conversation. I'm a victim of actual targeted and excessive bullying on a physical, mental, and verbal level, and that shit followed me home, too, because people at school knew where I lived. Under no circumstances do I ever condone bullying- but I do gotta say, if you act like a bitch, you're gonna get treated like a bitch. She does mellow out after befriending us, and I do dig the vibe she has a super talented hacker- also she called our mom hot, that's just the funniest shit ever. Otherwise, I think she's probably the weakest link among our friend group. 7/10 character.

BUT WAIT, She's Peony's daughter, and Peonia's sister! That bumps her back up to an 8. Wait til she finds out we're best friends with her dad lol. I explored the Crown Tundra with that man, and the two of us cleared the Galarian Star tournament together, so I can see her just being gobsmacked to see us being chummy together.

As a design, I think it definitely reads as intended: Outcast nerd with a special interest that doesn't fit in at school. I think the hair is a bit much, and the see through skirt with the shorts was probably only added so we wouldn't think she was a boy, because she does have that vibe. Idk, I know they were going for a vibe and it's counter intuitive to make her conventionally look like something or another, but I can't say it vibes with me 100%. But the eyes? Yeah, that's Peony's daughter. Very subtle, especially the name, so when it was officially revealed in game? That was a great connection.

BUT, I will say this: Why does SHE get to get away with dressing however she wants, but not us? I don't get it. I'm just saying, she should have at least HAD to put on the uniform after all was said and done, just like the rest of Team Star.

I will digress. Design for it's purpose is an 8/10. On a personal taste, probably 7, I really like her Eevee backpack and the color of her clothes, but I really dislike her hair.

Onto DLC characters:

Ah Carmine, probably my favorite of the two Kitakami siblings. "But she's abusiveeee!!!!!" You are an only child and it shows. OR, worse, you ARE Carmine and you don't wanna face it. Carmine is probably the most misunderstood character from the fan side, and I'm sick and tired of it. Why? She's not abusive, she's literally a big sister. Let me tell you, as someone that actually HAD an abusive big sister- I'm talking could ruin my life quite easily with just a little blackmail, has physically beaten me as kids, verbally abused me into my 20s, and much, MUCH worse- Carmine is NOT abusive. She is literally just a bitchy older sister, which is pretty common to see on tv or from my friends' older siblings. Does she need to be knocked down a few pegs and taught a lesson? Absolutely, and that's what happens with us and Kieran around. So chill.

So what is Carmine? A vane bitch, yes. She's fun to bully, a bit like Klara in that regard, but Carmine, I think, has a bit more of a satisfactory rebound to someone more likeable. She's still pretty full of herself, but she's actually very thoughtful of others- The only reason she doesn't want to tell Kieran about Ogerpon is because she knows her little brother is obsessed with it. Keep in mind, she's from a village that has indoctrinated its citizens into thinking that thing was dangerous and killed people unwarranted, and her thought process towards foreigners isn't all that uncommon or strange if you've ever heard or read about things like Logan Paul, or your average Hawaiian native dealing with asshole tourists. Plus, you know, she's from a small town in the boonies- it's not a good thing to be xenophobic, but it is an understandable trait for people from places like that to have, as it's very common around here. Plus, she does come around in the end.

In fact, she's so caring of others that she immediately wants to help Ogerpon upon learning she's perfectly innocent, and even when Kieran is off being emo somewhere, she doesn't hesitate for a moment to try and help US help Ogerpon get her masks back from the Lousy Trio. She asks us to help with Kieran, too, and personally recommended us to Blueberry Academy. She's excited to see Ogerpon in your party again when you battle in Blueberry, too, and is a lot more chill by then. I know, people's worst feared trait: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! What do you mean this asshole character becomes better? That can't be right!? Jerks are evil people forever and can never be redeemed!

Okay, sure, she could have handled some situations better, but I blame that more on shit writing, which tbh the writers were kind of giving up after the game released in it's shit state. I do hate that she progressively becomes more useless as time passes, and we don't battle her much in Indigo Disc, but I do love her character progression in Teal Mask and how we become closer friends over then. As a character, I'd rank her as an 8. I like her, and I hope we see her again.

As a trainer, and I guess rival? We fight her a few times in Teal Mask, I guess. Her team kinda sucks? But at the same time, she does employ some strategy you probably aren't used to seeing. I know my Hisuian Typhlosion was taken out by her Sinistcha after it survived a weakened Eruption. She could be better, and still has some weaker Pokemon when you first arrive to Kitakami, but that won't last for too long, and I have lost to her once when I wasn't paying attention with a brand new team. 7/10

As a design- I LOVE it. Her hair is really pretty, and it gives me Pike Queen Lucy vibes, who I severely miss. Her eyes are also RIDICULOUSLY pretty, especially in game. She's really tall, too, kinda rare for a girl character in the games- she definitely knows she's pretty, and she's correct. The uniform is the winter one, and it fits just right, and also can be viewed as a subtle description of her character: Cold. The red, black, and gold of her natural self blends in so well with the blue, white, and very subtle reds of the uniform as well. She reads as upper teens as well, maybe about to graduate soonish, which explains her attitude imo lol. 9/10 design

This is also the best render I could find of her Jinbei uniform as well, which is basically just as good as her base uniform all things considered. still a 9/10, wish she wore it more often in Kitakami.

Kieran is the soul of the SV DLC, by all accounts, and I certainly think he's an excellent rival throughout both Teal Mask and Indigo Disc with one of the best character developments in the franchise. Its the reverse of the douchebag rival: He STARTS as your friend and progressively loses his shit because he keeps losing to you, and especially because you take Ogerpon. It is only after surviving certain doom together and knocking off his pedestal that he finally realizes the error of his ways, and we become friends again. I think he gaslit the entire fandom into thinking he was this innocent little uwu shy bean, and while he is certainly empathetic, he's not entirely in the right.

Sure, he believed in Ogerpon before the others- be he liked it BECAUSE it was the monster first. From Ogerpon's perspective, he's just another villager that hates her and is snooping around her den without permission. Maybe we could have told him about Ogerpon sooner, but what good would that do? Need I remind you that we literally had just met him when this shit started happening? All we know is that he's obsessed with the ogre everyone else thinks will kill them. Maybe we shouldn't have lied (we didn't have a choice, shit writing remember?), but at the same time, he could have used critical thinking skills to realize WHY we were lying. When he finally found the truth, instead of immediately helping Ogerpon and forming a bond with her, he starts being mopey and steals the mask, or just avoids her. It's no wonder she sides with us- we actually bonded with it. We helped her fight the lousy trio while he was off being emo. And then when SHE chooses us, he STILL tried to battle us for the RIGHT to catch her.

And the thing is, him snapping and becoming a piece of shit in Blueberry academy is a result of built up resentment. He didn't have to become an asshole just because he hates US now, you know? Sure, maybe to his sister or Drayton, I understand, but he's an absolute dick to innocent people as well and not taking anyone's feelings into consideration, including his own Pokemon. Terrapagos was just curious and wanted to *see* us, not even join our party, and he tosses a Master Ball at it. He's a kid, definitely not in his right mind, but I feel like most of the fans think of him as a "do no wrong" kiddo that we turned into The Joker, when in reality, he's ALWAYS been the Joker, waiting for an excuse to lash out. In fact, Carmine is a bitch, but she cares a lot about others. Kieran is actually a lot more selfish in that regard as a balance- keep in mind that he's an anime teen, and anime teens aren't really the same as regular teens, so he's not innocent in any of this.

But that arc is still something incredible to see unfold. Kieran is a type of rival I've been asking for for years and finally got- crash out and all. He's not the main rival, which sucks, but at the same time, we finally got him! And then? When we make up? We finally have a beautiful friendship again. In Mochi Madness, we even get to team up to stop a psuedo zombie apocalypse. I know a lot of people think we fucked up a perfectly good bean, but the thing is, his flaws and anger MADE him a good character. Things didn't resolve as neatly as I'd like- I personally think the SV writers kinda gave up and just wanted the DLC to be done at some point- but that's a very important aspect about him I like.

Plus... Cmon... You're telling me you DIDN'T take a picture of him when you caught Ogerpon and when you took the championship from him?

As a character, I think he gets a 9. I certainly was hoping that maybe he was under the influence of some malevolent legendary, but it turns out he's the normal one and was just built that way.

Team wise, he starts out pretty weak, but it's a story in and of itself. He uses pretty cute Pokemon at first, mostly just randos you catch in Kitakami- but then he snaps trying to take Ogerpon from you. His first big boy team is a team of MONSTERS- stuff like Shiftry and Yanmega- both oger and oni coded and described- but then you also have some intense strategy with stuff like a Gliscor that has an ice type weakening berry and Hyper Cutter, Probopass with both Sturdy AND a special attack boosting berry, and his Poliwrath has both Belly Drum AND a sitrus berry. About the only thing that stands out is his little Dipplin.

Getting to Blueberry, when he's champion? Bro uses a competitive viable team- He an has a fucking Intimidating Incineroar, aka the scourge of VGC since Sun and Moon in 2016. Then he has a Grimmsnarl that sets up Reflect and Light Screen PLUS Sucker Punch. A Politoed with Drizzle AND Helping Hand that pairs excellently with his Dragonite that has both Hurricane AND Thunder- which does not miss in rain btw- and also holds an Expert Belt. Then he's also got a Life Orb (30% extra damage at the cost of hp) on his Porygon-Z with Adaptability (increases STAB to x2 instead of 1.5) and Hyper Beam, basically he OKO's everything that doesn't resist. Then to top all that off, his Hydrapple has an assault vest- increasing his special defense- but then he TERAS to fighting to avoid the obvious Ice type weakness, and this thing is a monster all on its own.

Now that is seriously a tough rival, and I think one of the hardest fights I ever had. If you wanna troll him, you can even bring out Ogerpon during the fight at BBA and he'll have a small melt down. Probably one of my favorite fights in all seriousness. That alone makes him a 9/10 for battling and rivalry.

As far as designs go, let's start with the basic look: Wet cat. He looks incredibly shy and innocent, and of course reads like a little kid you wanna befriend and protect. It's a trap though, as his eyes have a snake-like glow to really show off just how fucked up he is. Carmine's hair has scarlet undertones, and Kieren has violet, which makes for a nice tie in to the games. I don't really know what the deal with the headband is, but it's fine. I think it's a 7/10, I certainly like the hair better this way.

his Festival Jinbei isn't really much different, just loses all the blues and reds and goes all in on white. Its a fit that looks good and, again, I wish he got to wear it more. 8/10

Ah, and Joker Arc Kieran, probably my favorite look. Peak levels of DOUCHEBAG right here from design alone. He's got his hair pulled back into a man bun that kinda looks like an onion or a peach- and yet that damn peach had nothing to do with him. He's letting his jacket slide off and wearing looser socks- he no really cares about appearances, and to top all of that off? The red tank top underneath. This is peak asshole design, and I really dig it. It makes his breakdown all the better. I do wish we could somehow pair his regular hair with this outfit, but it's good enough. 8/10, I think he could've gone further with the douchebag look with some baggier, longer pants.

all in all, Kieran is a 9/10 for being the crashout rival I've been asking for for years. Still can't believe Nemona beat him.

And with that, we are caught up with protagonists, friends, and rivals up to gen 9, minus ZA, which I will do a more thorough review of once I get more info.

What should I review next? Or should I give it a break? Champions? Box mascots? Legendaries? Evil Teams?

[putrid-tongue]

PERMANENT  INTERACTION  CALL!

 a  call  to  all  mutuals  ♥  i  realize  that  the  following  are  likely  encouraged  &  things  i  have  been  trying  to  practice  from  the  get-go,  but  it  is  still  nice  to  have  confirmation  and  a  more  formal  format.

 please  do  like  this  if  you  are  okay  with  me:

sending  you  memes

reblogging  answered  asks  &&  turn  them  into  threads

yelling  about  our  muses  via  ims  or  discord

tagging  you  in  edits  and  the  like

me  making  edits  /  memes  &&  potentially  even  art  for  our  muses

writing  starters  for  you  if  i  think  of  something compelling

by  liking  this,  the  reverse  is  also  true  and  encouraged!  please  come  at  me.  the  rpc  really  lives  from  interactions  in  any  form.

 ALSO  PLEASE  consider  leaving  a  comment  or  messaging  me  directly  if  you  would  like  to:

be  a  main  to  my  blog  //  affiliate  with  me  //  ship  with  me  (  any  ship,  from  entirely  platonic  to  physical  intimacy  and  deeper  bonds  )

a  little  heads  up  however:  some  in  depth  conversation  will  be  required  if  you  wish  to  ship  in  a  more  romantic/emotionally  intimate  sense.  mordú  is  not  wired  like  that,  so  it  will  require  plotting  and  you  to  be  comfortable  with  unconventional  relationship  styles  to  even  triggering  content  if  exploration  of  that  is  on  the  table.  (  everything's  possible,  nothing  is  required  or  mandatory!  )

i  am  always  interested  in  weaving  lore  together  with  other  people,  and  develop  our  muses  together.  there  is  no  greater  joy. we  needn't  necessarily  have  written  beforehand  for  this,  so  don't  be  afraid  to  just  message  me  if  you  are  interested. 

[centrally-unplanned]

I feel like I'm taking crazy-pills WRT to Musk's block-policy-change that's apparently driving yet more people off of Twitter: Prior to his reign of error, you could trivially view the Tweets of any public account that had you blocked, simply by viewing it while logged-out; as best I can tell this is simply Musk partially reversing a change that he effected, and yet people are acting as if this is going to drastically worsen the (already much degraded) platform. Am I missing something?

Honestly no, you aren't. It is a dumb change - as you say it was trivial to evade, but made the barrier to being a hater slightly higher, so no one is winning from this beyond haters. It is relevant that previously it was harder to even realize your target of hate was around. But I would bet materially if you A/B tested it 99% of accounts could not tell the difference, it isn't that big.

The response is coming from two places. For one, it is a petty change - Musk's stated reasoning that "current blocking makes no sense" is just a non-starter of a thought, and his motivation primarily seems to stem from emotional baggage. It just sucks to be on a site with such rudderless, tamtrum-driven leadership at the helm; it makes people feel mistreated and hopeless. And ofc there is a long history behind these calls. So while the individual decision doesnt matter, it is a bit of a straw-breaking-the-camel's-back thing.

The other part is Musk has decided over the past year+ to adopt the public persona of being an aggressive, serial liar who dabbles in deeply conspiratorial neoreactionary drivel that he knows is false in a bid to buy influence in the Trump admin in exchange for helping them win. One can speak of the wisdom of "separating the product from the person", and that is true! Use X however you want, you aren't a soldier, I still am and I don't care about Musk at all. But people are people; Musk's behavior is in fact vile, he is very easy to hate, and it emotionally sucks to use a website where you feel like a loathsome jackass toying with holocaust denial for clout has power over you and is benefiting from it. So this additional exercise in said power is just really rubbing people the wrong way.

Still, all that being said, most people will grumble and move on. Some will leave but I don't expect BlueSky to finally take off or w/e.

[mephone-1]

goodness I couldn't get a signal for the longest time-

hey. lot of stuff happened. everyone's. well not okay yet but I found it. I just have to figure out some code but there's over 400 lines and I never learned how to code. I-

I don't know what I'm doing, it's all so confusing and yeah I guess that makes sense for code that's supposed to fit into a sound but like-

there's a table. it lists the different models and types of Meeple devices in a row called "targetModel", and things I don't know like GS4 and N7 and Tab3 in a row called "intendedModel"

there's a line that creates some sort of VM with "protocol 0"

I just need to find out how to reverse this and everything will be fine. I'll. I'll be able to save someone for once.

I just...do you know coding stuff? I could use some advice here, if that's okay.

- desperate dimension hopper

Hm. Well.

I believe I may have some information about coding within my storage. I was not taught. Much about it. But I believe I may have information you could possibly find. Useful. Feel free to ask for advice as much as you need. I do not mind.

For starters. I believe that. Table. Listing various Meeple devices. Judging by what you have mentioned to me in your previous asks, I can assume that the “intendedModel” row is referring to whatever. Version. Of the malware will be installed to the device, based off of what the “targetModel” returns as.

I do not know what the virtual machine would be used for, however.

[azulas-daddy-kink]

Do you think Ozula would still be hot in any of the three following scenarios?

Ozai is a woman, Azula is still a girl

Azula is a boy, Ozai is still a man

Reverse: Ozai is a woman, Azula is a boy

I'm gonna be real with you, Anon... probably not. Maybe in select scenarios but for me, much of the appeal wears off if they're anything but father and daughter.

For starters, something I really like about Ozula is Azula calling Ozai "Daddy" which obviously wouldn't make much sense if he's a woman. Now of course in one scenario (where Ozai is still a man) that would work but if I'm being honest? I'm just not that into m/m, plus I have a lot of trouble imagining Ozai having sex with another male.

Another thing I love about this ship is the size/strength difference. Granted it would still be there in other scenarios but it just wouldn't be as pronounced. The power imbalance is also very important to me and same applies there. It doesn't get more unequal than father/daughter.

Thirdly, the risk of pregnancy in the context of Ozula bigs my metaphorical dick. Ozai breeding his little girl is insanely fucking hot to me. All the wild pregnancy sex they'd have because of Azula's raging hormones (and Ozai's pregnancy fetish). Ozai being all over Azula's lactating tits. The two of them toting around their perfect little incest babies all proudly. You know. And again for obvious reasons, this doesn't work if Ozai is the only one who is able to get pregnant and/or they are both male or both female (unless one of them is trans, maybe I could maybe get on board with that).

So yeah, that's pretty much where I'm at.

[treacherousthing]

Nina the killer: Rewrite

⛧°。 ⋆༺♱༻⋆。 °⛧

Update 1/?

For my Nina rewrite, I just wanna put some things down for debate on if I should include this. A lot of what I'll be saying here are personal headcanons and such of the type because from the original story, there isn't too much to go off of. I am also going to be referencing Seireitonin's (on tiktok and tumblr) headcanons for Nina because I agree with some.

For starters, I am going to write Nina as a Blasian person (Dad was Black, Mother is Chinese). I think in a lot of ways it can add depth to her character, and it also makes sense in a lot of ways to me. In Seireitonin's post about why she thinks Nina is black she mentions how in a lot of cases black people often have absent fathers (That is not coming from me, that was said by Seireitonin who *is* a black person) and it lines up with how Nina's father was never once mentioned in her original story. In my rewrite, I want to write that her father actually dies from an illness like cancer. I think that it could be more sympathizable when it comes to her insanity that her father passes away when she is still growing rather than is absent since she was a baby. Also, in regards to her being part Asian, I think it could add to why she was bullied. I'm aware that many Asian people have and are often times made fun of and picked on for their ethnicity, and that also goes for African American peoples (in no way am I excusing this behavior). The bullying part of the story isn't only going to be motivated by her race, and I do not wish for it to be.

As I'm sure many people and myself headcanon her as a scenekid, I'd like to include that. I assume she is a scenekid and has just moved to a suburban area with her mother and brother. Many suburban parts of towns are generally middle-upper class, white, and typical "normal" people. I would assume that if a Blasian scene teenager moves into their part of town, it would probably give them some "bad" impressions.

For the setting of the rewrite, I'd like to make it known that Nina has just moved from California to a small town in Michigan. I think the generic trope of a girl from a small town moves to a big city is very fun, but I think it'd be super rad if the trope was reversed. In the rewrite, I want to include that one of the only reasons that Nina moves to a small town in Michigan is because of her mom having a job relocation. There's a city in Michigan called Freeland that is really close to a river, which I think later on it'd be handy for Nina herself when it comes to discarding the bodies she had killed. Also, Freeland is very close to a city called Midland, which is the headquarters of a big chemical plant/company called Dow (This is true, I actually researched for this, lol). Dow has a location in Hayward, California, which I think would be a good place for Nina to move from, assuming that her mom works at Dow.

I researched and found out that Midland is actually pretty expensive to live in, so I thought that the smaller and more affordable town nearby, Freeland, would work just fine.

In the rewrite, Nina and her little brother, Chris, would go to school at a Catholic or Christian, K-12, school. I don't think that Freeland actually has any religious schools, but I'm not going to be *that* accurate. At the school, I imagine that they would have a uniform and dress code that Nina tried her hardest to push the limits of with out breaking them to get away with being able to express herself in the way that she likes. That's where her canon outfit would come into play. The classic black skirt, purple hoodie, and red striped stockings are seemingly tame outfits. At school, I imagine the dress code is not too strict. Simply, a black or navy skirt, stockings, or tights with no more than two colors and a school polo. I'm sure they allow sweaters or jackets when coming and going from school, so thats why Nina would be able to wear her purple hoodie.

⛧°。 ⋆༺♱༻⋆。 °⛧

fin

[sirenum]

Hey Vixen. My question is how does one cope with the feelings of inadequacy, or just, being unwanted in the rpc? I understand one needs to reach out to start things but what if you're consistently ignored? I've been struggling with feeling like an outsider or unwanted and want to make peace with it

Any advice requests / rpc questions // accepting always

Sometimes blogs will start off extremely slow especially when it comes to writing a OC , there are always stigmas around original characters && content.

People tend to be very and I mean very weary when it comes to ocs from what I've personally seen as a fellow oc writer myself

I know it can be really discouraging and hard when it feels like you're unwanted in a RPC or that you're being ignored especially if you're reaching out

A good thing to do is remember people sometimes can forget to reply to things , lose things or when doing a cleaning accidently delete your message.

If you're always reaching out first maybe take a moment and assess. Remember communication always will be a two way street and if one party is constantly doing it well the other ignores I think allowing bygones to be bygones would be good

But also if you haven't sent a ooc message Try those as well

Plot calls (if your comfortable with them) //Starter calls // reverse inbox calls are popular from what I seen and what I've personally experienced

Also interest trackers help people too! It's a good way to start communicating too!

Remember you're not unwanted! Everyone has a place in the RPC, it's just harder now and days for people to feel as if they have a sense of belonging

Feeling upset that you're being ignored or feeling unwanted is a normal especially if you're seeing people popping back and forth

You're always welcomed and wanted in a rpc!

Remember too that popping onto the dash and making commentary is okay too!

And if you're comfortable join events/ servers etc! It may feel uncomfortable at first but it's okay to leave // mute servers

At the end of the day, make your space one for your comfort too, if you lose track of things don't be nervous and mention it sometimes people will think your disinterested if they see you reply to one person but not them!

Remember it's okay to mention if you lose something!

[cheapsweets]

The officinal Glugreng

My response to this week’s BestiaryPosting challenge from @maniculum

Jinhao shark fountain pen with fine, hooded nib, with Monteverde Raven Noir ink, over initial pencil sketch.

Reasoning below the cut;

"The bird called Glugreng, as Physiologus tells us, is white all over; it has no black parts. Its excrement cures cataract in the eyes. It is to be found in royal residences. If anyone is sick, he will learn from the Glugreng if he is to live or die. If, therefore, a man’s illness is fatal, the Glugreng will turn its head away from the sick man as soon as it sees him, and everyone knows that the man is going to die. But if the man’s sickness is one from which he will recover, the bird looks him in the face and takes the entire illness upon itself; it flies up into the air, towards the sun, burns off the sickness and scatters it, and the sick man is cured."

The white birb that Looks At You (that's a good sign, right?)

We don't have a lot to go on here; it's white, for starters, and royalty like keeping it around. This made me think of falconry, with the (potentially fanciful) strict hierarchy of what rank of nobility can fly which birds. So, a falcon it is!

Bird of prey also makes sense when you consider how similar some of the description is to the actions of the Raggfong (albeit much more selfless that that noble bird...)

Incidentally, when doing the research for reference material for this one (particularly around falconry ranks), I now have a suspicion what this description might be of. At this point it was too late to do a reversal of my concept, and I could very well be barking up the wrong tree, but I'll be interested to find out...!

Because there's no pattern described, I didn't add one, to give it an all white appearance. That does leave it looking a bit sparse.

I had two concepts for this one when I started; the first was this one (Looking At You) which I figured was an interesting way to go, given the behaviour it exhibits, and the second was a picture of it in its natural environment (royal residence, probably with a token regent or two). Time pressure and what I thought would be most amusing resulted in the former.

This was an interesting challenge to see how well I could draw something symetrical. It's okay, I have other strengths, right? ;)

Also, please don't put bird droppings in your eyes... :(

[goshdangronpa]

I don't have all the answers for how Trump won, but headlines like this point to something troubling. This is a long one, I've gotta get this down somewhere.

"Trump's master plan for a radical reformation of the US government" is one hell of a way to describe the destruction he's promised. It's not even accurate. For starters, the article says the details of Trump's plans are not widely known. He may not have much of a plan at all, which would be consistent with his approach to governing in his first term. But "master plan" implies that there's already something well thought out and ready to implement tomorrow if they could.

When CNN says "radical reformation," they're referring to his goals of deporting 11 million people, replacing many bureaucrats at all levels with loyalists, and repealing birthright citizenship, among other things. These would be radical reforms, to be sure, but that's also to say the least. Surely there is stronger language they could've used that’s still accurate and unbiased?

Oh, but we saw what mainstream media outlets, even the allegedly liberal-leaning ones, did when the race still looked close in the last days. In his first term, Trump called the news media "the enemy of the people." Back then, they answered the call of duty and took on a renewed sense of purpose as the Fourth Estate - not always perfectly or gracefully, but certainly with vigor. The Washington Post adopted the dramatic slogan, "Democracy Dies in Darkness." Now, its owner, Jeff Bezos, welcomes Trump just a couple weeks after forcing the editorial board to kill a piece endorsing Harris.

Others followed, folding like cards to pre-empt criticisms from Trump and his supporters. This lack of resistance is a far cry from the aftermath of the 2016 election. It looks like the mainstream media doesn't want to play as Trump's enemies anymore. This article suggests that even CNN, that most hated foe of right-wing weirdos, is ready to play nice.

"Trump's master plan for the radical reformation of the US government" details the groundwork of a fascist American government in the softest possible language. It's not just that there's no hint of outcry, condemnation, or disagreement. It's the way that it portrays Trump's policy goals - some of the bleakest for a US president in decades, promising devastation to immigrant communities and the apparatus of our democracy. "Radical reformation" implies that these are bold moves, not extreme authoritarian reversals from foundational American ideals. "Master plan" suggests that this is motivated by deep thought, not reactionary malice. It's spin, in favor of fascism.

It's appeasement.

The information in this article is still worth reading and knowing. But a responsible publication would be able to frame it for what it is: an examination of how Trump will seek to destroy our country starting on his first day in office. If CNN wants to censor themselves for fascists who will hate them anyway, I'll have to get my news elsewhere.

I recommend The American Prospect. This site features great original writing every weekday analyzing events at the national and state level, with a focus on working people and workers' movements. They're progressive, yet firmly planted in reality - a better option than media outlets who uplift Trump's image in an effort to look unbiased, an effort that still chooses a side.

[sufandomgirl]

Miraculous Shadybug Fanfiction Part 1

Thank you for the request! Dedicated and original idea credit to @josmarney23

{Tom smiles at his daughter.}

Tom: I think that it's great that you have a new friend.

Emonette: She isn't my friend, yet. I'm just...working on things.

Tom: Well, I think that's fantastic!

Emonette: Whatever, just don't answer Sabine's calls while I'm out. She abandoned us, Dad. (leaves to go to school)

{When she gets to the building, Emodrien meets her outside and she's also greeted by Lila's smiling face and wave.}

Reverse Lila: Hi, Marinette!

{People look at her like she's crazy for fraternizing with the emo kids that everyone fears. They're almost in cardiac arrest when Emonette smiles back at her and greets her.}

Emonette: Hey, Lila.

Emodrien: So, finally on time for once?

Emonette: Shut your pie-hole.

Lila: (giggles) Come on, let's go inside. Ms. Bustier's probably waiting for us.

Emonette: (scoffs) Yeah, right. No one wants us to show up anywhere. You, maybe, Lila, but definitely not us. Go on ahead. Adrien and I need to make sure that we remembered our homework.

Lila: (giggles again) Okay, then.

{Then, it was just the two of them. They leaned against a wall. Their reputations made people distance themselves from them, so they could talk in private.}

Emodrien: So, how did it go with the Supreme?

Emonette: About as well as you'd expect. I was in my old costume. We have to make him think that we're on his side for as long as we can. He can't know about the other versions of us, either.

Emodrien: Given that he's the Supreme and known about the kwamis longer than anyone, I bet he knows that there are other universes out there.

Emonette: Yes, but if he knows that we've been to one, he'll start to ask questions.

Emodrien: Okay, but what about Lila?

Emonette: Well, let's just hope that she's the opposite of the Lila in theirs. From what I read in that diary, she's a lying, manipulative bitch over there in the other dimension.

{They get to class and take their seats. After school, they separate, like always, promising in private to meet up for "patrol". They had to make this appear as normal as possible for as long as possible. They knew who Hesperia was, he revealed his identity in front of them to Ladybug and Chat Noir in the other dimension in hopes of helping them catch their Monarch. Shadybug had to comfort Claw Noir afterwards. Emodrien loved his dad, he just...wasn't all that great with affection since his mom passed away. He had tried in the two weeks since returning to put effort into rebuilding the relationship with his father.}

Hesperia's Lair...

Alya: So, what's our next move?

Hesperia: Shadybug and Claw Noir are acting as usual, save the destruction of Paris in hopes of deceiving the Supreme into a false sense of security. The only other thing we can do is continue to check in with their hero versions. Ubiquity needs to open a portal that doesn't connect to the other Alya Cesaire. She seemed so traumatized by my power since it is being used for evil in their dimension, and my, Shadybug and Claw Noir's roles are reversed. They are Ladybug and Chat Noir, the heroes of Paris, and I'm the villainous Monarch.

Alya: Wow, so, it's really a parallel universe?

Nino: Those source images were wild. What other things are different?

Hesperia: Too many to count. For starters, Ladybug and Chat Noir work as a team. They take care of their kwamis and try not to overuse their powers in battle. For example, Ladybug will try to use only one Lucky Charm and Chat Noir, only one Cataclysm to win a battle. I respected their wish to keep their identities a secret at the time, because they were afraid that their Monarch would figure them out. They were already helping me avoid them as it was.

Alya: So, you could have known their secret identities--and Shadybug and Claw Noir's but you passed on that? Why? It's not like you would've used it against their hero versions.

Hesperia: It's a mutual respect kind of thing. I revealed mine to them to help them after they'd done so much for us. They changed themselves into heroes. Shadybug and Claw Noir only agreed to help us because whatever their good versions said to them got through more than we ever could. I didn't get to meet their version of the Supreme, but I got the sense that Ladybug would and could pass along what all had happened to him.

Alya: Well, that's all well and good. What about us? Did you see the other versions of us?

Hesperia: Only Alya. She was in Marinette's room which was where we let out.

Alya: Why the fuck would I be in her room?!

Hesperia: Supposedly, in the parallel dimension, you and her are best friends.

Alya: (eyes widen, incredulously) WWWWWHHHHHAAAAAATT?!?!?!?!

Hesperia: Yes, and Nino is best friends with Adrien.

Nino: I'm sorry, but wh--?!

{All of the sudden, the ceiling gave way again.}

Hesperia: It's one of the sentimonster that the Supreme created, hide!

{They all find a hiding spot.}

Alya: (whispers) What now?

Hesperia: (whispers back) Now, plan B. The Supreme will send Shadybug and Claw Noir back here and we'll just have to hope that they--and he take my word for it.

Nino: (whispers) What's the plan?

Hesperia: This. Nooroo, Light Wings Fall. (de-transforms; gives broach to Alya) If things go south, use my Miraculous to create a portal and get Ladybug and Chat Noir. Only if things don't go well.

Alya: (nods as he steps out to let the sentimonster capture him)

[waters-and-the-wilde]

HEY @kyliebyelie I had a weird couplea weeks but I did say I would yell about Nureyev and Vespa some more so *launches enrichment pumpkins*

also OG post thread for anyone who wants context it was just getting a little unwieldy

First off! re: Nureyev still being willing to bet on the hope that Juno would still vouch for him – I’ve also been thinking about how he had to be willing to bet that it wouldn’t backfire on Juno. Like, ‘you have no idea how much I did to keep the Kanagawas off you’. The fact that tying Juno’s name to his own work could have very easily painted a target on him. Even if he couldn’t have known that Buddy and Jet were going to pull a ‘come with me if you want to live’, the fact that he put Juno on their radar suggests that he trusted Buddy to begin with. To not threaten Juno, or to use Juno to threaten Nureyev. Jet talks about how the criminal reputation informs a potential employer that their prospective is reliable, but it also must work in reverse – that a potential boss won’t screw you over.

re: Nureyev being a fan is something I think about A Normal Amount

You’ve absolutely nailed the whole vibe of their communication styles, the chain reaction of politeness/rudeness → perception of emotions and control → measurement of honesty → how that exacerbates the friction, like that is such a good breakdown goddamn.

to add to that since I am constantly frothing like the cappuccino about the concept of 'solid coping mechanisms that backfire in the wrong situations' so for your consideration: one of those pesky little first rules of thieving being 'don’t rise to the bait’. Oh it was intended for Being In Situations with weird rich people or standoffs with other criminals, but when it's his default setting for responding to things, it's just gonna just drive the wedge that much further every time Vespa questions his integrity and he doesn't show where he keeps his Give A Damn. (And it's probably even harder to untangle as a 'no that's for jobs not your personal life' thing when it still has its legitimate applications in his personal life, bc Juno’s own survival reflex MO is ‘how fast can I piss somebody off to find out what I need to know’ and that ability to stay focused and letting him know when that's uncalled for is probably extremely necessary for the both of them)

‘Vespa is terrifying’ – okay so funnily enough! i'd been telling @one-joe-spoopy (pssst hey come look I've got enrichment pumpkins!) about my headcanon of 'ranked order of members of the Carte Blanche crew by how much they scare him and why number one hands down goes to Rita,' which is a whole post in itself but long story short, I think out of everybody he gets the most sense of security around Vespa (though she probably still does terrify him, like, a normal amount and for the exact reasons you described, especially pre/during Man In Glass.)

Basically the concept I’ve been toying with (and I think moreso in a later, probably post-Cyberbots context given some time to settle in) is that her opinion of him is decided and earning her approval under the circumstances is What We Call A Non-Starter. When he's reflexively trying to manage everyone's expectations and invested in their approval, and realizes in no uncertain terms that he can't win Vespa over as long as the name thing is a going concern, the pressure’s off a bit there. Though not in the healthiest of ways, necessarily, if he’s just more comfortable with letting her believe what she wants about him because that’s how he usually deals with people.

And another aspect of this sense of security dovetails with your previous points about how Vespa and Juno are more reactive than performative, how they wear their principles on their sleeves and others recognize them as genuine. I bet Nureyev absolutely knows better than to make the comparison in her earshot, but I can see him just sorta unable to help liking her for the same reasons he’s drawn to Juno – he can brush off a little belligerence from someone whose integrity speaks for itself. Vespa abides by her own codes as well as visibly aligning herself with Buddy’s – she’s pissed about not knowing his name but won’t coerce it out of him even when the requisite leverage is right there – and like you said, she would be insulted by the idea of using underhanded means to get him fired. He knows where he stands and possibly figures that trying too hard to fix it is just going to piss her off further. And it's not like he's gonna stop being dramatic and making his gay little jokes and smooching Juno in the mess hall, he just needs to focus on comporting himself as a reliable crewmember and establishing himself the hard way with time and Buddy's family bonding activities (and yeag he wants to Get A Good Grade In Crewmate which is Normal To Want and Possible To Achieve).

oooh also I’m a little fucked up on the idea of him on bedrest with his broken leg and getting filled in on what he missed during Shadows, realizing that Vespa thinks he’s got it in for her right around the same time he’s having an epiphany that he trusts her to keep him alive and patched up even if she never likes him as a person and that the shapeshifting robot impostors don't stand a chance with her around. like not only is she not the thief she was twenty years ago, she's even tougher and smarter and cooler and doing it all with the brain horrors on top.

ALSO in light of Next Page I now think about ‘hey what if he’s Inherently Suspicious of Medical Personnel due to The Trauma and did he spend a bunch of his broken leg recovery time fretting that she was going to try to wring his name out of him while he was on painkillers only she never does??’ (god there’s this one fic where he and Juno get MacGuffined into kids and she’s like. ‘well shit. yeah I could find it out but goddamn. that’s a line I just can’t cross. Not Looking At It I Do Not See It’)

gah it's just. Nureyev's trust issues are so goddamn multifaceted, like. local baby boy too trusting, gets his only security ripped out from under him, tanks his shot at happiness bc the trauma gave him suspicion, becomes the suavest charlatan in the galaxy so he doesn't get taken advantage of again, craves genuine connection but hasn't actually had a chance in the last two decades to figure out what he's like around other people for any stretch of time, also still literally paying the price for the last time and can hardly bear the thought of confiding in his new connections because there's nowhere truly safe in the galaxy he's terrified of putting a target on them.

But I think about his little 'much more so than usual these days' to Juno's sarcastic 'happy now??' and that maybe he was a lot closer to an honest version of himself on the Carte Blanche. That he was getting places, that he was trusting them with as much as he could. something something 'Peter Ransom' wasn't intended for putting at least half the truth under their noses the whole time but he kinda let it turn into that the moment he let Buddy start calling him Pete.

Handful of miscellaneous thoughts on things they have in common:

- the debts thing. Vespa of all people is the most painfully, intimately aware of what it feels like to have a life that isn't one's own, so the way she approaches Nureyev being in massive scary debt with suspicion made me go huh. so I've been thinking about that one and tbh given how she internalizes shit and doesn't entirely trust herself (and god I have to imagine that she's really messed up about how close she came to killing Buddy in Time Gone By), I think seeing her situation in Nureyev's wouldn't engender sympathy because is that because she also knows exactly what she was prepared to do to get out from under it. and is just expected to tolerate the fact that they're taking their goddamn chances on him. there's this sense of 'even if he cares. even if he thinks this is real. even if he tells himself he wants to be a part of this. who's he gonna be when push comes to shove. probably not even Steel is safe.'

- They are both extremely functional under pressure and in more in their element in full on crisis mode, and are probably spending S3 figuring out what the hell to do now that they have access to things like reliable meals. privacy. affection. (pretty sure Juno is also experiencing a similar kind of 'things... getting better? after being. really bad all the time???' and having a lot of midmorning scuffles about it)

- Also they both have their shitty dads living in their brains rent-free!! and they are never ever going to talk about it but one (1) time Nureyev hears Vespa yell 'shut the hell up old man!' from another room and. sometimes thinks that very hard in her voice when Mag's advice is being unhelpful

re: feral kittens in towels - I want them to get into it that day after Heart of It All where Juno isn't getting out of bed and isn't there to get all protective, and for once she's in a half-decent place brainwise and he's riddled with eight kinds of guilt and half on the edge of a nervous breakdown and having all of his defenses shot is actually a good thing for him because she's not actually going to do anything with the upper hand except cuss him out a little bit. Like 'I was gonna cut your throat without hesitation yesterday and you're all fine and dandy about being in the wedding party? no shut up I'm not saying you can't. it's whatever. Bud thought it would be nice and I'm not against it. I am saying. the fuck is wrong with you.' hurt can sniff out hurt in-fucking-deed. I am dying inside like the fact that Nureyev himself would prevent any closure we might have gotten between him and the Lighthouse Crew after S4 is very him and also it hurts me and I need to pick it all apart with a seam ripper and see what spills out

likewise it’s hard to picture them ever reaching an actual rapport but I can’t even tell you how many times I pictured the prison break with all of them converging before Clean Break aired, where it’s like finally sunk in that he’s on their side and she goes ‘Ransom watch my goddamn back I need to kiss my wife’

also. does anybody want. some fic? I have some job interview/Man In Glass missing scenes where i am gnawing on this at all times

[therecordconnection]

Ranting and Raving: "Telephone Line" by Electric Light Orchestra

In the early seventies, when the breakup of the Beatles was still fresh and still being mourned, many people asked who (or what) could ever replace them. Asking which group was the second coming of the Beatles is like asking for a definitive answer on what the Great American Novel is. You’ll get possible answers, but you’ll never get the answer. Of the various options I’ve heard in my lifetime, only two answers make sense. The first is everything Paul McCartney did with Wings in the seventies. 

The second answer is Electric Light Orchestra.

Jeff Lynne is the Beatles fanboy to end them all. He’s made it no secret. He’s lived out the fantasies that every Beatles lover could imagine. He’s played songs with three of them (never got to jam with John Lennon), he’s produced for George Harrison (the album Cloud Nine in 1987) and got to be in a band with him (Traveling Wilburys), he’s produced for Paul McCartney (songs on Flaming Pie in 1997), hell, he even got to produce the Beatles themselves when they reunited and brought John’s final demos to life (“Real Love” and “Free as a Bird” for Anthology in 1995). John even called ELO “Son of Beatles” during a radio interview in 1974. Lynne’s dream with ELO was to pick up where the Beatles left off with “I Am the Walrus” and he absolutely did.

There is no ELO without the Beatles, but I do think there are several ways Lynne stands out from the Lennon/McCartney model of songwriting. For starters, Lennon/McCartney started the Beatles with silly love songs like “Love Me Do,” “Please Please Me,” and “All My Loving.” It was only during the second half that they started writing about stranger things and getting weird with it. Lynne did the reverse. He started ELO with weird science-fiction and fantasy concepts. “Kuiama” is a song about a soldier trying to comfort an orphan girl while also having to be the one to explain he killed her parents. “From the Sun to the World” might be about the apocalypse. “Bluebird is Dead” is about somebody learning about and coming to terms with death because their bluebird is no longer moving. The entire Eldorado album tells a story of someone lost in dreams, going from dream world to dream world a la Quantum Leap in the hopes that they will find the mythical city of Eldorado. In short, the first few ELO albums are strange progressive rock that’s more in line with the sound of the Moody Blues, not the Beatles-inspired pop rock that would define their golden years.

The reason for all of this preamble is because “Telephone Line” is a pivotal moment in ELO’s story, both for their success and for Lynne as a songwriter. It’s when Lynne turned into a full on pop songwriter and his songs started focusing more on ordinary situations for ordinary people as opposed to the strange, almost otherworldly ideas that dominated the first ELO albums. It started with the album Face the Music in 1975, it was perfected the year after with A New World Record and “Telephone Line,” which might be one of Lynne’s best.

Jeff Lynne is a strange entity, both as a songwriter and as a guy. I wrote about his love for the Beatles and his connection to them because as a songwriter, he defies the Lennon/McCartney model because none of the songs are about him. At all. He would get inspired by things that happened in his real life, but he himself is never the subject of the song. No trace of the man is left on the page of his biggest hits. Like McCartney, he writes melodic, catchy, heartfelt songs and delivers them with love and sincerity. It’s a big reason why people still love the band so many years later. He’s good at what he does. However, McCartney also wears his heart on his sleeve and plenty of songs are about him. “Let It Be” famously came to him after he had a dream of his mother giving him advice while he was knee-deep in the rough final days of the Beatles. “Hey Jude” was famously written as a way to comfort Julian Lennon when his dad left his first wife for Yoko Ono. “Silly Love Songs” was a response to Lennon saying that silly love songs are the only kind of song he writes, with McCartney famously asking, “What’s wrong with that?” In short, a lot of lyrics to McCartney’s songs are personal to him in one way or another. John Lennon, on the other hand, rejected that. Words only mattered in the context of fitting into a song or what he was thinking about in a certain moment. It could be complete nonsense for all he cared. He once famously told a fan outside his door, “You just take words, and you stick them together and see if they have any meaning. Some of them do, some of them don't.” Lynne takes the best qualities of both Beatles. The words sound like they could be personal to him, but they’re just words to a song he wrote and they just happened to make a good song idea. Lynne himself talks about it in a radio show interview from 2001:

“Telephone Line” was like a song that was-- You know, I knew somebody, I knew a girl in America and I would phone her. But it was an imaginary story. I pictured a guy who phoned up this girl. And all he ever got was a ring tone, just rang out for days, y'know. And obviously he couldn't do that now. Somebody... some electronic thing would answer it and tell you to clear off or something. But this was just the loneliness of the long distance telephone call.

Whenever we fall in love with a song, we have a hunger to learn what the inspiration for it was. When lyrics to a song really resonate, we often want to learn what caused them to be written. People always wonder what Uncle Joey on Full House did to warrant Alanis Morrisette to write a song like “You Oughta Know.” People debated like Ancient Greek philosophers trying to figure out who Carly Simon wrote “You’re So Vain” about. We care about the performer behind the song, whether it matters or not. Tina Turner didn’t write “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”, but she may as well have, due to the way she performs it and the details of her abusive marriage to Ike Turner fitting the lyrics so well. ELO remains lyrically interesting due to Jeff Lynne remaining a sort of mystery man. We’re talking about a guy who hasn’t been seen in public or on stage without sunglasses on for close to forty years! The reason being that if you ever saw Jeff Lynne’s eyes you would probably start seeing those colors that only shrimp can see. He also has a habit of explaining his songs much in the way that Paul McCartney does, which is to say that he says something about how the song got written, but what he says usually doesn’t explain a hell of a lot.

I talk about the impersonalness of Lynne because I think that helps to illustrate what a great performer he is. “Telephone Line” is fantastic. Every note of it. I can’t think of another song where loneliness has been expressed in a more melancholic, wistful, and almost desperate manner. There’s so many little moments that make this song so wonderful. That keyboard in the beginning that’s mimicking a phone being dialed. Those sad, glittery keyboard notes that lead into the verses. The way the first verse sounds like Lynne is singing from an answering machine. The way the drum beat comes in after Lynne says “Hey” and begins the second verse. The way those gorgeous strings fill the empty spaces between Lynne’s lyrics and follow the lead of his vocal melody. It’s all so wonderful. There’s a reason Lynne got inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. A New World Record is also around the time he really perfected the production side of ELO. This song still sounds fantastic even now. That vocal harmony and blending of Lynne and bassist/vocalist Kelly Groucutt during the chorus is just wonderful. Lynne gets a lot of credit for ELO, but I think he still needs a nod on his production work. You don’t get to produce for the likes of the Beatles, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Del Shannon unless you know what you’re doing. Compare this to the first couple ELO albums, where Lynne was just stacking layers of instruments on top of each other, to this and the difference is night and day. This entire song is a musical treasure from one of the best that was just entering the top of his game.

Similar songs on this topic, like New Edition’s “Mr. Telephone Man” and “Misunderstanding” by Genesis, don’t work the same way. It’s mostly because they’re too poppy and you immediately know why the girl isn’t answering. For New Edition, it’s because she’s cheating and in the case of Genesis, it’s because the person trying to be reached isn’t dating the narrator. Lynne keeps the nature of the relationship ambiguous and the song is better for it. It’s clear that he’s singing to a person he was dating or at least romantically involved with (“Don’t you realize the things we did we did / Were all for real? Not a dream”) but this phone call could be coming from a one night stand or an ex he hasn’t spoken to in months. Up to you to decide. Whatever the case, Lynne delivers those first lines with such longing, such care, sadness, and desperation that you can’t help but want to root for him. It’s such an earnest way to start.

Hello, how are you?  Have you been alright through all those lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely  Lonely nights? That's what I'd say  I'd tell you everything if you'd pick up that telephone

You don’t know what happened between these two people, but you know that he’s at least trying to make an effort to fix it. It’s unclear whether he’s singing this song to an answering machine, or he’s just holding the phone to his ear and hearing a telephone ring endlessly. Either way, it’s tragic. It’s also a place all of us have been at one time or another. Things happen and we try desperately to call (or text, in the modern world) and fix things but the person on the other side of the line just lets it ring (or ignores it or blocks you). A lesser song would pick anger as the driving emotion for the song or just make the whole thing sad and have it revolve around a relationship that has ended. Instead, Lynne goes for a scenario where two people are separated, but the relationship can still be saved if they both work together and talk it out. This is highlighted in the chorus when he sings, “I’m living in twilight.” 

“Telephone Line” isn’t a love song, but it isn’t a break up song either. It’s something much worse: an inbetween song. It’s a song that represents the worst moments that come with the end of a relationship: the ones where you know things aren’t looking good and it’ll probably end in despair and heartbreak, but something inside you still wants to fight for it. Something inside you wants things to work out and you don’t care how sad and desperate you might sound trying to save it because it’s the only thing that matters in that moment. The ringing of the telephone represents those moments in time where you’re trying to save something, but the other person has given up. The endless ringing is “the hint,” that (hopefully) clear sign that you should give up and accept that things are over. There’s genuine melancholy to “Telephone Line” and I think Lynne strikes that wonderful balance between “someone who desperately wants to fix a broken relationship they still see hope for” and “pathetic loser who won’t take a hint and looks foolish for continuing to try.” The final verse of the song illustrates this balance wonderfully.

Okay, so no one's answering  Well, can't you just let it ring a little longer, longer, longer?  I'll just sit tight, in shadows of the night  Let it ring forevermore

He accepts that this isn’t working, but he’s still not ready to give up because the hope that maybe the other person will answer is still driving him to try. One of the reasons I think this song has lasted is due to how we all have stories of losing friends, loved ones, romantic partners, etc. because they simply stopped talking to us. Sometimes it’s because we’re in the wrong, sometimes we’re given no reason and we’re left to figure out what happened. Regardless, Lynne took that relatable situation and he spun it into ELO’s first single that went Gold. 

Whatever the outcome of this song is, we’ll never know. The song ends with the chorus repeated until fade out. We end up living in twilight the same way that the narrator is. The song will always be stuck in that inbetween. If we’re lucky, we’ll hear it ring forever more.

[brazenlystrong]

Starter for @naento

Satoru stands amid the wreckage, the dim emergency lights casting long shadows behind him. The scent of scorched metal and something far more human lingers like a judgment. He was released. So it seems, saving that mercenary has come in handy in the end. The Spear of Heaven had slashed an opening, freeing him, unshackling him from the cold, humming cell of the Prison Realm. By the looks of it, time flew faster in there than in the outer world.

But freedom is not the balm he expects. It tastes bitter.

The station is in ruins—twisted steel and broken glass stitched a jagged outline across his path. Every step forward tells him of what had happened while he was gone. The people who hadn't gotten out. The lingering residuals. Gojo has work to do now—survivors to find, students to protect, and a station to clean of its horrors. He is the strongest, but no amount of strength can rewind time or pull the dead from the silence. He had learned that before, and he is being forced to learn it again now.

Most of the people hadn’t been evacuated. There had been no time. The protocols meant to protect them had faltered in his absence. And worse—far worse—Gojo's students have been scattered across the labyrinthine complex. He only has Yuji by his side now, the only one he’d found. Satoru couldn’t pick up on Megumi’s location, so he had sent someone trustworthy out to look for him.

In the meantime, Satoru and Yuji are on the lookout for the others. And there it is. From a hundred yards away, Satoru feels it—the flickering, sharp-edged flame of Nobara Kugisaki’s cursed energy. Nearby, steady like an ax poised before the fall, pulses Nanami Kento's, surrounded by foreign cursed energy. Something is wrong. There is a sourceless ripple in the air, the tell-tale stench of Mahito’s cursed soul slithering into his perception like oil in water. Satoru's eyes widen, the hairs at the back of his neck rising in involuntary revolt. What he understands is that... Mahito is here. No. Not there. There—and there.

Two signatures. Identical. In two different directions, both unmistakably his. Gojo's mind sharpens, cutting through the impossibility. A clone? A puppet? There is no time to waste. They must act. Satoru pinpoints the direction to Nobara’s location to Yuji, and his student is ever determined to drift away to help her before it’s too late.

Instead of running, Satoru uses his technique to relocate himself to the exact premises Nanami is. In a heartbeat, the clutter of cursed spirits becomes distressed. At the shriek of compressed reality peeling apart, Gojo’s hand slices sideways, conducting a silent symphony of destruction. One instant, a body is a whole, the next—it is a violent collage of dismembered motion. Limbs spinning into the air, deep violet blood spilling across. Satoru is carefully working his technique to weed out the enemy. He reaches the center of the room, sensing the presence of the much more problematic enemy.

Piercing cerulean eyes lock on Mahito, inches apart from where Nanami is. Infinity reverses, no longer a barrier but a slingshot wound tight. It denies the potential contact, forcing the cursed spirit away from Nanami, launching him backwards. It sends him through the far wall of the station. Stone cracks, iron bends inward, and light shatters across the tiled floor as his form punctures solid concrete and vanishes into the rubble beyond. In that moment, Satoru can sense that the puppet from above on the second floor has withdrawn. Mahito appears weaker when split in half, but Gojo doesn’t care enough to focus on that when Nanami is right next to him.

“ Hang on. I’ll get you out of here, Nanami. ”

An arm is reaches out, carefully draping past Nanami’s back as Satoru comes into view from the side. Simultaneously, he can hear Yuji calling out from a distance. He raises a hand to indicate he’s got this covered and that Yuji and Nobara should return to safety.

“ Put your arm around my shoulder, ” he gently instructs Nanami. He’s not particularly fond of the physical damage to Nanami. He maintains a level-headed approach despite the seething indignation on the inside. Jogo appears to be gone, so there is nothing for him to do about it. Satoru would come back for Mahito next time. This won’t slide.

For now, ensuring Nanami’s survival is a first priority.

[snickerdoodlles]

okay so, here's my issue: i agree that these are likely genAI images. my skepticism of them is mostly the weird grain/texture in the images and the proportions of the glass houses look off. i stayed only skeptical though because i'm on mobile and can't image search, but if a reverse image search pulls up similar results in genAI sites, i agree the conclusion is that these are likely genAI images and OP needs to properly tag for it.

however

everything else you said isn't an argument, its confirmation bias. for starters, stained glass greenhouses are a thing. they're cool as hell. (personally, i've mostly seen them in botanical gardens, but that might just be because i like to visit botanical gardens.) also, the understanding of greenhouses listed here is wrong-- they're made to regulate temperature, not light. higher frequency light can penetrate glass going in but the lower frequency infrared radiation emitted can't get out, which traps that energy in the smaller space and warms it up (this is the same reason why your car heats up in sunlight, and why window shades can help reduce it). usually, greenhouses are fully clear and transparent to let in the full spectrum of light so that they're serviceable for a very wide variety of plants, but people sometimes also use colored glass or sheets to restrict certain light bands or even just cut down on how much harmful UV reaches the plants. additionally tho, it's not uncommon for functional greenhouses to have stained glass elements, whether they're decorative or for privacy purposes, and it makes sense why those things appealed to and inspired artists who like to study light to then create highly decorative glass 'houses' as art installations to purposefully interact and play with natural and artifical light. (also?? many glass buildings have lights inside them for when it gets dark??)

and the things about light speckles, or values, etc-- manipulating real world photos to fantastical saturation with a lot of light interplay or light effects is a very common art style. it was extremely popular on pinterest 10 years ago (maybe-probably now too, but i don't do pinterest, so what do i know). i've also known photographers who like to flatten out highlight/shadows and their light curves because the effect appeals to them. i knew one girl who threw light speckles over everything. my point here is that highly edited and filtered images are not automatically indicative of the images being falsely generated.

again: i think you're right that these are images made by generative AI. everything you pointed out are red flags and OP's blog is similarly weird. but red flags are not confirmation. they're only thing's to investigate. and i feel so strongly about this because taking confirmation bias as fact has already led to harm to actual people. on the art side of it, you'll see accusations of someone being too fast, or too surreal, or too ""AI art style"", or too whatever, but that can't take into account how sometimes an artist is fast because they have years to decades of practice and expertise, or the limitless number of art styles out there, or that AI developers are trying really hard to get genAI to mimic actual artists. on the academic side, there are teachers and professors cracking down on students for "obviously" using genAI to cheat because the student's work is "too good" for them, never mind that student skill level assumptions are highly biased by racist and/or classist prejudices.

i really don't mean any of this against you specifically, i'm intending this more as an example of my skepticism towards automatically calling anything as genAI. or at least, i'm assuming you reblogged this from me in response to my previous tags, so yeah just: this is why i'm so skeptical of anyone who says they can instantly clock genAI content (images or text). this is why i dislike seeing "this is genAI" claims without any elaboration on how that conclusion was reached. i think it's important to build a healthy skepticism towards what we see online as fake images grow more prolific and it's equally important to build the tools to investigate suspicions, but we cannot judge things primarily by our limited information/experience or our assumptions of how things "should" be.